The Week in Geek: Hellboy, Game of Thrones, Infinity War, and More

In this Week in Geek we have news on the seventh and eight series of Game of Thrones, some pre-production on the Hellboy reboot, a behind-the-scenes video from Avengers: Infinity War, and much more.

Hellboy

David Harbor, star of Stranger Things and the upcoming Hellboy reboot, has posted a new picture to Instagram, showing off himself being fitted for Big Red's infamous Right Hand of Doom.

Harbor also revealed to The Wrap that he hopes filming will kick off in September:

“We’re supposed to [begin filming] in September, I hope. It’s good. It’s a whole new thing. I’d always been a fan of the comics and there’s a darker tone to it and I think in the climate we have now there’s kind of a darker… a desire for more of that… the script is good and this guy Neil Marshall (The Descent) is directing who’s really good and the aesthetic is great.”

The film's tentative title is apparently Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queendirected by Neil Marshall with a script by Andrew Cosby, Christopher Golden and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. A release date has yet to be announced.

Game of Thrones

It's not unusual for the series finale of Game of Thrones to have a longer runtime than other episodes, but it's been revealed that the finale to the upcoming seventh series will break new records. Showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff revealed to Entertainment Weekly that the seventh (and final) episode of the series will be "around 90 minutes long".

HBO's schedule reveals that it's actually 81 minutes, and that the sixth episode will be 71 minutes long. However, the fourth episode will be the shortest episode yet, with only 50 minutes for us to watch. Still, that's a lot of TV, and means the last episode of the series is basically a mini Game of Thrones film. The first episode debuts stateside on July 16th.

According to HBO Programming President Casey Bloys (via Entertainment Weekly), the eight and final series of Game of Thrones might get delayed to 2019 in order to give the two showrunners time to round off the series in the allotted six episodes.

“Yeah. They have to write the episodes and figure out the production schedule. We’ll have a better sense of that once they get further into the writing.”

He also clarified the production of the spin-off series, stating that Benioff and Weiss are not involved, and warning fans not to get their hopes up for four different spin-off shows:

“The idea is not to do four shows. The bar set by [Benioff and Weiss] is so high that my hope is to get one show that lives up to it.”

Avengers Infinity War

Apparently Chris Hemsworth is feeling a little bit left out of all the fun activities taking place on the set of Avengers: Infinity War. He even managed film some footage of himself uncovering a secret rehearsal that is suspiciously absent of all thunder gods.

Har har, very funny Chris.

Arrowverse

The CW has revealed premiere dates for upcoming series in its Arrowverse slat of programming. The broadcast order is same as this past season, with Supergirl debuting on Monday 9th October, followed by The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow on Tuesday 10th, and Arrow on Thursday 12th. You'll notice that Arrow has new episodes coming out on Thursdays rather than Wednesdays. That's because its switching slots with Archie Comics adaptation Riverdale for one reason or another.

We also know at least one new character joining LoT, with Tala Ashe playing Zari Adrianna Tomaz aka the mystically-powered superheroine Isis. The announcement also came with a description of this version of the character as a muslim-American woman living in the year 2030:

"Technology has brought about incredible change in her future — too bad human nature hasn’t kept pace. Fear, prejudice and a lack of care for the planet have forced Zari to become a “’grey hat hacktivist.’ A computer nerd with a wry, combative attitude. A woman living a double life who doesn’t realise that she has secret, latent powers derived from an ancient, mystical source."

She isn't the first hero to have a mystic powerset (both iterations of Vixen get their powers from a magic amulet), but her inclusion means producers aren't shying away from the less-scientific powers other heroes have. I'm still holding out for Constantine to join the show, as unlikely as that may be.

Gambit

We've missed at least one of Gambit's previously announced release dates, and the film still hasn't coming any closer to being filmed - let alone released. But, despite huge delays and a tendency to lose directors, Fox is still keeping the project alive. Speaking with ScreenRant, X-Men franchise producer Hutch Parker confirmed the film was still in production.

ScreenRant: Yeah, if you look at the three movies next year, every one of them is sort of like a franchise in and of itself, so you can see the potential there. Is Gambit still part of that plan?

Hutch Parker: It is. It is. I don’t have any news on that but there’s still a desire and a passionate interest to see that movie made.

Sony's Spider-Verse

Rumour has it that the upcoming Silver and Black, the female-led Spider-Man-related film featuring Black Cat and Silver Sable, is actually a test for a future film featuring an all-female cast of Spider-Man characters. According to Splash Report, Sony is keeping an eye on how well DC's Wonder Woman as an inspiration from the film, which would follow on from the initial team-up. Supposedly the idea is that Silver Sable would become a Nick Fury-type who brings together a number of female characters for some reason. That same report claims that the team would consist of Black Cat, Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman), Charlotte Witter (Stunner), Sarah Ehret (Jackpot) and Cassie St. Commons (Dusk).

Spider-Woman is a strange inclusion, since it's assumed that Sony only has film rights to Spider-Man and related characters. Despite the similar name, the mainstream version of Jessica Drew isn't a Spider-Man character. While they have crossed paths many times, they're not really associated and Drew doesn't even have similar spider-like powers. The Jessica Drew from the Ultimate Universe, on the other hand, is a female clone of Peter Parker with the same memories and abilities. Would that fly? Who knows. It'd probably be easier to skip Jessica Drew and just use Cindy Moon/Silk instead.

Splash Report also claims to have information about the plot of Silver and Black, which you can read here. Needless to say it name-drops a number of smaller names from Spider-Man's rogues gallery, a long with some bigger ones like Scorpion and, rather surprisingly, Norman Osborne. Take all of that with a pinch of salt though, especially since it's very unlikely Sony would use Osborne in a film universe that doesn't involve Spider-Man.

Ant-Man and the Wasp

We don't know a great deal about the sequel to Ant-Man, but we do know about one new star. According to Variety British actress Hannah John-Kamen (Black Mirror, The Force Awakens) will be involved with the film, but it hasn't bee specified who she's playing.

Justice League

It has been revealed (via the LA Times) that Wonder Woman star Robin Wright will be reprising her role as General Antiope in Justice League, which is due to hit cinemas in November.

I'm going to start speculating about Antiope's role in the film, which will be filled with spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen Wonder Woman.

In Wonder Woman Antiope appears to be killed by a German soldier, and given how she sacrifices herself to protect Diana it's obvious that while Amazons are ageless, they are not truly immortal. So it seems likely that her role in Justice League will be a flashback. We've already heard reports that the Amazons were responsible for repelling the forces of Apokolips in the ancient past (alongside mankind and the Atlanteans), where they end up in possession of one of three Mother Boxes. Given Antiope's skill as a warrior, and the fact Amazons do not age, it would make sense that she would be at the forefront of the fighting.